Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Improper Diagnosis?

I have spent the last 26+ years of my working life as an auto repair technician. We were called "mechanics" back then. I have worked primarily in Ford and Lincoln - Mercury Dealerships. The following statements applies to anyone that earns their living repairing things:

If you don't diagnose the problem correctly, the repair will be ineffective.

For example, if a vehicle comes into the shop with a misfire caused by a burned exhaust valve, diagnosing and replacing the spark plug will be an ineffective repair. The repair will have to involve the replacement of the exhaust valve. Any other repair will be ineffective.

It is even possible that an improper diagnosis could cause more problems than the vehicle originally had.

For example, Ford produced a Constantly Variable Transmission (CVT) when the Montego, Freestyle and Five Hundred came out. If the technician diagnosed a CVT concern, and decided that a fluid change was necessary, if the technician puts the wrong fluid back in it, the CVT will be destroyed; regardless of the original concern.

This thought process can certainly be applied to law and lawmakers.

The concern is "Health Care is too expensive." The diagnosis is that government isn't involved enough?

The concern is unemployment is too high. The diagnosis is that government isn't spending enough money on "creating or saving" jobs?

Looking at history, I can safely say that most of our biggest problems are created by lawmakers mis-diagnosing the problem. As Ronald Reagan famously said, "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."